Parshat Vayeira

The two stories about the navi Elisha that make up this week’s haftarah closely parallel the events found in our parsha. Clearly, the second episode seems to be that which connects us to the parsha, as it tells of a righteous barren woman miraculously granted a son fathered by her elderly husband, a son who then dies and is brought back to life. The connection to the story of the righteous, barren Sarah who is granted a son fathered by the elderly Avraham, who is subsequently saved from death, is more than obvious.

Nonetheless, as we have pointed out before, it would be a mistake to regard the first story of the haftarah as merely an introduction to the second. For in this first episode we read of a woman, widowed of her righteous, God-fearing husband, who stands to lose her only two sons. In similar fashion, we read in the parsha of a righteous, God fearing husband who stands to lose both of his the sons: Yishmael, whom he was told to send away, and Yitzchak, whom he was told to sacrifice.

But, as we have often seen, there is much to learn from the contrast between the stories as well as from the similarities. Rav Shamshon Raphael Hirsch notes the painful difference between the moral teachings that Avraham attempted to spread, teachings that emphasized “la’asot tzedaka u’mishpat,” the obligation to create a just and caring society, with the world depicted in the first episode from Sefer Melachim Bet. In that world, a poor widow must plead with the navi Elisha to save her sons, sons who are the only source of support she has, from a creditor who is ready to forcibly enslave them in order to satisfy a debt owed to him. It is an act more reminiscent of the behavior of Sodom, the city whose destruction was described in this parsha, a city whose actions stood in stark contrast to the mission of Avraham.

Additionally, Rav Hirsch points to the miracles found in both the parsha and the haftarah. In the Torah text the miracles were wrought by a Heavenly power, while those miracles we find in the haftarah were brought through the prophet’s intercession. The lesson we might draw from this contrast reflects God’s plan, i.e., that Hashem now awaits the prayer and involvement of Man to bring His miracles. God will not be satisfied with a society that allows evil to reign and waits for Him to “fix what is broken.”

Hashem has placed us on earth to fulfill the mission first given to Avraham: to build a moral and caring world. Only a God-based society that heals the sick, cares for the elderly, pursues justice and supports the poor is one that can hope for miraculous intervention, for help from the One above.

By Rabbi Neil N. Winkler

Rabbi Neil Winkler is the rabbi emeritus of the Young Israel of Fort Lee and now lives in Israel.